Tattooing is an art that requires years of experience along with the confidence to draw lines that can’t be erased. 12-year-old Ezrah Dormon’s got a head start in the tattoo game. At a young age, younger than 12, his mother let him fill in a flower tattoo on her arm. From that moment on he spends his spare time learning the technique.

Ezrah sat with his mother at Honolulu Tattoos in Panama City, the first time he used a tattoo gun. She explained just how it got in his hands. “I was just getting that tattoo, and Ezrah was just sitting there watching us and talking. And he was like, ‘Wow, I really wish I could try that. I would love to know how to do that,’ and Ali was, like, ‘Well, why don’t you try it now.'” she said.The tattoo artist, Ali, took Ezrah under his wing and showed him the ropes. Ezrah’s next step after learning how to fill in the art was learning how to outline. “It was more intense because, like, when you’re doing the lines, the needle has to only go halfway in the skin. It can’t go any deeper or any less,” Ezrah said.

The young apprentice already assisted drawing 20 tattoos, including one of his teacher’s. Customers are asked if they feel comfortable with Ezrah helping out, and if they give the “ok,” he gets to contribute to the tattoo. “Whenever someone comes to get a tattoo, they always have to know that I’m still learning, that I’m just an apprentice,” Ezrah said. “So if they feel comfortable offering up a part of their body that I can do and try to do my best job I can.” He added, “They’ll always be a little bit nervous, but they’re always usually excited.

Ezrah is still learning and plans to make tattooing a part of his life in the long run. “What I want to do is, maybe I would, like, travel around the world with my tattoo gun, or when I go to college I’ll have that in my suitcase that I can just pull out and give a tattoo to earn money,” Ezrah says. It looks like this little guy’s got a bright future ahead.